Then … Jo is listening to the radio in his cab while approaching the south portal of the Stockton Street Tunnel where Bush Street crosses over (map) . The tunnel, 2 1/2 blocks long, was built to provide a level streetcar connection from the Union Square neighborhood to Chinatown. It opened in 1914.
and Now… this portal has long been a favorite with film directors, having appeared in several movies. Note the same two blade signs Then and Now, at upper left. The Sutter-Stockton Parking Garage on the right has been there since 1960.
Before the tunnel was built this block of Stockton Street climbed an 18% grade to Bush Street. The 1913 image below shows the dig in preparation for boring the tunnel. The Bush Street apartment building facing us at upper right, built 5 years earlier in 1908, is still there today - it’s now a Wyndham Destinations time-share.
Then … As he drives through the tunnel he hears the radio announcer talking about the arrest of the 82 year old Mainland Chinese supporter who shot and killed a man at the Chinese New Year parade because he was waving a Taiwanese flag; the same incident as that described in the newspaper cutting that Jo had found in Chan’s jacket pocket.
and Now… the northern portal welcomes traffic to Chinatown just south of Sacramento Street. The construction site on the left, above, has been fully built out, below. Note the walkway railings on both sides of the tunnel, added in 1984 after a pedestrian was killed by a passing car (a classic case of closing the barn door).
On a trivia note, the radio announcer was Jim Clancy, a reporter at that time at the local KGO-TV station; he would go on to a 34 year career at CNN. Here he is c. 1979 interviewing tourists on a cable car. (Photo by Nancy Wong).
Then … Jo and Steve wait for customers in front of the Holiday Inn Hotel at 750 Kearny Street under the bridge that crosses over from Portsmouth Square plaza. Jo is puzzled: why did Chan have that newspaper cutting about the flag-waving murder in his pocket? Steve shrugs … “ Shit, the Chinese they love to fight, man … over mahjong, food, anything”.
and Now… this is the ‘Bridge To Nowhere’ which is hardly ever used. That will soon be even more so; city planning approval is well underway to remove it as part of yet another major plaza redesign (will they ever get it right?) scheduled for completion by 2026.
Then … Jo drops in on Steve and his sister Amy (Laureen Chew) to speculate on how Chan might be involved with the flag-waving murder.
The kitchen scene above was filmed in the Richmond home of actress Laureen Chew. It appeared again in Wayne Wang’s follow-on 1985 movie Dim Sum: A Little Bit Of Heart, below. Everything matches, including the patterned kitchen tiles.
and Now… the home, in the center, is 416 20th Avenue in the Richmond district. The house also doubles later in the movie as Chan’s wife’s home.
Then … Jo next meets Henry the cook on that same bridge (we saw him earlier hilariously cooking in the Golden Dragon restaurant). This time he’s smartly dressed in a 3-piece suit, surprising at first until we learn he owns eight restaurants and is quite rich. Director Wang has Henry alternate between English and Mandarin as he speaks so that the English-speaking audience understands while at the same time experiencing the lilt of the Chinese language. Henry thinks that Chan, an FOB immigrant (‘Fresh Off the Boat’), went back to China because he was never accepted here by Americans nor by ABC’s (‘American Born Chinese’). Jo is not so sure.
and Now… behind them, above, is a decorative ornament and a sign for the Garden Restaurant at 716 Kearny, both of which are still there. The 14-sided polyhedron however has been reoriented.
and Now… the ornament is one of many arrayed in the reoriented position along both sides of the span of the bridge. The scene with Henry was filmed at the far end near the Holiday Inn (the hotel was renamed the Hilton Financial District in 2006). The 716 Kearny building is on the right.
Then … Local FBI agents fan out across town searching for the buildings depicted in Igor Braun’s intercepted painting. At upper right the vertical corner sign, reading ‘Marines’, belongs to the Marines Memorial Club which tells us where this was filmed.
… and Now, The view looks south down Mason with Sutter crossing in the foreground (map). The Marines Memorial Club at 601 Sutter still occupies the southwest corner of this junction but traffic on Mason has since been changed to one-way. In both Then and Now images, steeply sloped streets on Potrero Hill are clearly visible way off in the distance.
Then … Next, we see an agent in a different part of town; this appears to be somewhere South of Market.
… and Now, sure enough, this is 6th Street, unchanged since the neighborhood’s post-1906 earthquake and fire rebuild (map). That’s Minna Street on the left and straight ahead across Market is the Golden Gate Theatre.
Then … The agents spot buildings that might be those in the drawing. This shot was filmed in a studio using a rear-projected cityscape. To CitySleuth it looks very familiar but something about it isn’t quite right …
… that’s because the moviemakers reversed the image when they projected it! So let’s reverse it back - now it makes sense - it’s a view west across the Marina looking towards the Presidio in the distance. The prominent building in the upper center is the Marina Middle School. The eyesore gas holder at right used to be on the corner of Bay and Laguna.
… and Now, the movie’s view was taken from a Russian Hill apartment building, 1090 Chestnut on the corner of Larkin (map), as was the recent photo below. (That same building also appeared in the 1947 movie Dark Passage, described here by CitySleuth). The school is still there but the gas holder has been replaced by the Marina Cove Apartments.
They check the buildings in the painting …
Then … Bingo! The agent says “That’s it alright, it’s painted from the rear of one of those houses on Clay Street”. But this is nowhere near Clay Street; note the ‘McRoskey Airflex’ sign on the building at left - a giveaway as to where this actually is.
… and Now, both buildings are still there today, in the Mid Market section of Market Street. On the left is the McRoskey Mattress Company, a local family business founded in 1899 that has been at this 1687 Market Street location since 1925 (map). On the right is the Allen Hotel at 1693 Market which survived a fire in 1998 and today is a low-income housing facility with on-site support services.
In summary, the moviemakers used geographical trickery for Igor Braun’s studio location. The agent describes it as being on Clay Street but he’s in Russian Hill when he spots it, and the houses across the street from it are on Market Street. All miles apart. Go figure.
Matthew wanders through downtown streets making a series of calls to city and federal officials. He quickly finds that they seem anxious to keep a lid on his reports of slimy half-formed beings.
Then … He first meets a staff member from the Mayor’s office in Union Square. He is urged to not say a word to anyone.
and Now, this is the northeast corner of the square at Post and Stockton (map). The steps have been expanded and one of the city’s Hearts, part of a citywide arts project, is on display there. In both images the St. Francis Hotel on Powell Street can be seen across the square.
Then … Next he tries calling the Police Department but is immediately cut off. The high-rise offices in the background are Two Embarcadero Center on the right and the Alcoa Building on the left. Harrington’s Irish pub is on the same block as the phone booth. In these street scenes the camera swirls in constant motion, reflecting his confusion.
and Now, this is Front Street looking north towards and across Sacramento Street in the Financial District (map). The Alcoa Building is known today as One Maritime Plaza. Harrington’s, there since 1935, continues to slake the neighborhood’s thirst.
Then … The Mayor’s office calls back and asks him to use his discretion, because “… this whole thing might be abating”.
and Now, this is the junction of Powell, Eddy and Market at the cable car turntable (map). The corner building straight ahead at One Powell was built in 1921 , originally housing A.P. Giannini’s Bank of Italy, later known as Bank of America. Today it’s a flagship AT&T store with redeveloped luxury condominiums above.
Then … The Federal Preparedness Agency are equally unhelpful, telling him to keep an open mind. “Don’t mention to anyone about duplicate bodies, for God’s sake”.
and Now, this is a half block up Powell Street from Market. Burger King and the Mac Pro Store (partially blocked by the advertising kiosk and the cable car awaiting its turn to head down to the turntable) have replaced the Cable Car Steak Restaurant at 45 Powell.
Then … His head is spinning as he walks the streets replaying in his mind the unified opposition from those very agencies and officials who should have been jolted into an immediate investigative response. Perhaps Elizabeth is right, this smells of a conspiracy. On the left a Woolworth’s store occupied the ground floor and basement of the Flood Building.
and Now, viewed from Ellis, with Market Street crossing in the distance, this looks along the same block of Powell Street as the previous two Then images above, but in the opposite direction. Woolworth’s moved out in 1997; its site now houses The Gap.
Then ... At 720 Steiner Street, the home she shares with Geoffrey, Elizabeth is getting worried about an inexplicable change in his demeanor and behavior. She wakes one morning and follows him down the staircase as he leaves the house.
... and Now, the railings and walls have since been painted over and there's no longer artwork covering the window.
As she watches through the front window he dumps something, she knows not what, into the back of a garbage truck (just like the truck seen earlier outside the dry cleaners where the owner complained to Matthew that his wife "... not my wife"). What is going on?
Then ... Later she follows him again; he leads her across a footbridge where the telephoto lens pulls the background, including a stainless steel sculpture, towards us.
... and Now, this is the footbridge over Washington Street looking south across Maritime Plaza (map) towards One Embarcadero Center. The sculpture, still there, is by Swiss sculptor Willi Gutmann. A closer view of the same sculpture was seen in the 1974 movie The Conversation.
Then ... She watches, puzzled, as he meets a group of people she has never seen before.
... and Now, this is the escalator of the One Maritime Plaza office highrise which connects the plaza level to the street level lobby; it was called the Alcoa building when the movie was filmed (map). Forty years on, the lobby, including the bench against the back wall and the lights arrayed around the walls, looks much the same.
Elizabeth wanders through town with an eerie feeling that everyone around her has changed in some way.
Then ... She passes a cable car on Powell Street pulling in to the turntable at Market (map). On the surface things look normal, but she is convinced there's a conspiracy going on.
... and Now, a cable car awaits its turn to rumble down to the turntable. Sephora, an upmarket beauty products store, has replaced the International restaurant and the building next to it now housing Burger King has a shiny new exterior. The old California Cafe sign painted on the side of the building at top center has survived remarkably well over the years.